July 27, 2021

STUDY OF PSALMS - Chapters 78-82

PSALM 78 - “Learn From the Past”
(Psalm of Asaph)

[This is the second longest psalm in the book, after Psalm 119.]

Psalm 78 is a Wisdom Psalm, intended to teach the people of Israel the importance of following God's law, as well as understanding His saving mercy.

Vs. 1 – This teaching psalm begins with Asaph calling for the attention of his fellow Israelites. The discourse is reminiscent of Moses speaking to his people in Deuteronomy 32:1.

Vs. 2 – This verse is quoted in Matthew 13:35 as being a word of prophecy about Jesus speaking in parables. He did so that only those with “ears that could hear” and understand His teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Vs. 4 – The purpose of the psalm was to pass these things along to the next generation:
  • The praises of the LORD
  • His power and greatness
  • His wonderful works
Vs. 5-7 – Five generations appear to be mentioned. God established the teaching of His Word for the purpose of being passed down to all generations of both the Jews and Gentiles. The Lord chose Israel to reveal Himself to the world. Or as Jesus said: “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22).
Those who forget God’s works are sure to fail in their own.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Vs. 8 – A stubborn and rebellious generation stopped trusting in God. They had a heart problem.

VERSES 9-72: SONS OF EPHRAIM
Ephraim was a son of Joseph (along with Manasseh). In this psalm “Ephraim” is representative of all Israelites who have fallen away.

Vs. 9-12 – They refused to fight for Israel; did not keep God's covenant and did not live by His law; forgot all that God had done for them and their ancestors.

Vs. 12-16 – To remind the Israelites WHAT God had done and WHO He was, four miracles are given as evidence:
  1. The plagues in Egypt
  2. The passage through the Red Sea
  3. The cloud of fire
  4. The water from the rock.
Vs. 17 – Notice the change from “he” to “they”? “They” continued to sin against God.

Vs. 18-20 – “Can God...?” The ungrateful and untrusting Israelites didn't trust God's ability to provide food for them in the wilderness. They tested Him with their questioning and their lack of faith. They did not believe that The One who put the stars in the sky could provide a banquet in the wilderness.

πŸ’›NUGGET: Entitlement. When we have ungrateful hearts that focus on what we don't have, we are blinded to God's blessings and all that we do have.

Vs. 21-22 – God's anger against a stubborn, rebellious and sinful people caused his judgment to come down upon them in a deadly fire. (Numbers 11:1-3).

Vs. 23-25 – Manna – the “bread of angels”.
“Tis called ‘angels’ food,’ not because the angels do daily feed upon it, but because it was both made and ministered by the ministry of angels, and that phrase sets forth the excellency of it.” (Ness)
Vs. 32-39 – In spite of God's provisions and miracles, the people of Israel continued to sin. They refused to belief that their God was big enough to deliver them and fell into cycles of unfaithfulness followed by punishment ➡ repentance ➡ forgiveness ➡ insincere worship ➡ sin ➡  punishment. Yet through it all, God was compassionate with them and did not destroy His remnant.

Vs. 41-55 – God's miracles and redemption for His people as they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan are reviewed, once again. By now, it's plain to see that these stubborn people willfully chose to forget God's good works. Ungrateful usurpers of unprecedented Glory.

Vs. 56-64 – Only a generation after entering the Promised Land, the Israelites forgot. They forgot God's Law. They forgot God's testimonies. They forgot God. They began to worship idols instead. So, God left them. He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh and gave up His Ark of the Covenant to the Philistines (1 Samuel 4). His Glory departed from Ephraim and He surrendered Israel to the swords of their enemies.

Vs. 65 – Don't you love how the roles are reversed here? Asaph tells us that God woke up, while in reality... it's always men that need to be awakened and revived.

πŸ’›NUGGET: KJV translates verse 66 as “He smote his enemies in the hinder parts.” Though they deserved a good spanking, God gave them something worse: Hemorrhoids. For reals. (1 Samuel 5:6-10)

Vs. 67-72 – God traded Ephraim for Judah and Shiloh for Mount Zion. And He chose a shepherd boy for His king. Neither of these were impulsive choices on God's part. Remember when Jacob was blessing his sons before he died? To his son Judah he said: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” (Genesis 49:10). God had already chosen Judah over Ephraim before the Israelites even left Egypt!
If Israel’s record is her shame, God’s persistent goodness emerges as her hope (and ours) for the unfinished story.” (Kidner)
πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›
PSALM 79 – “Where Is Their God?”
(Lament Psalm of Asaph)

This psalm was likely written by a descendant of David's Asaph, as it was believed to have followed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.

Psalm 79 is a Community Lament in which Judah acknowledges their sin and begs for God’s mercy.

VERSES 1-4: DESTUCTION OF JERUSALEM & THE TEMPLE
These verses detail the horrible curses God warned about if His covenant was disobeyed. (Deuteronomy 28:15–68)

VERSES 5-7: GOD'S ANGER
Vs. 5 – “How Long...?”

Vs. 6 – While his people's blood was poured out like water (vs. 3), the people asked God to pour out His wrath on their enemies.

[Verses 6 and 7 are very similar to Jeremiah 10:25 and may have been influenced by Jeremiah.]

VERSES 8-10: RESCUE US FOR YOUR GLORY
Vs. 9 – The psalmist asks God to provide atonement for Israel's sins, as the temple and altar were destroyed and they were unable to provide sacrifices for themselves.

Vs. 10 – The Gentiles taunt a defeated Israel with the question: “Where is their God?”.

Vs. 13 – A vow to give thanks as the sheep of His pasture. The psalm begins with a city in ruins and ends in a pasture. Surely the Good Shepherd can't be far away...

πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›
PSALM 80 - Revival
(Lament of Asaph)

Most scholars place this psalm sometime before Israel's Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. At that time, Israel was still one nation consisting of 12 tribes within two kingdoms.

Psalm 80 is a Community Lament Psalm petitioning God for deliverance and is attributed to a descendant of Asaph. (If written by the Asaph of David’s day, it would have been written in the spirit of prophecy.)

VERSES 1-3: PRAYER FOR RESTORATION
Vs. 1-2 – Just as the previous psalm ended with the sheep, this one continues with the same metaphor, addressing God as the Shepherd of Israel. “Joseph” was a name often used for the northern tribes of Israel which included Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph). Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh are all descendants of Rachel (Jacob's wife) and also marched together from encampment in the wilderness (Numbers 10:22-24).

Vs. 3 – “Restore us, God”: He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

VERSES 4-7: HOW LONG?
Vs. 4 – The people wonder how long God will be angry with them. God was so mad, in fact, that even their prayers angered Him. (The Hebrew word here is “smoked”.) They were arrogant enough to pray for God's deliverance even while stubbornly allowing sin in their lives. They needed revival to bring them to genuine repentance and restoration.

Vs. 5 – God was serving up bowls of tears for their breakfast, with a side of tear juice to drink.
The psalmist points to an angry God, a weeping nation, and mocking foes, a trilogy of woe.” (Maclaren)
VERSES 8:13: ISRAEL AS A VINE
Vs. 8-13 – Israel is compared to a vine transplanted from Egypt to Canaan that grew and grew, spreading out all over the land God promised to them. But then, God tore down the protective hedges and the vine became plucked and trampled. The vine and fruit (Israel) were destroyed by the Boars and creatures (foreign nations) until the entire vineyard was bare.

VERSES 14-19: REVIVE THE VINE
Vs. 17 – “Son of Man”: Perhaps Asaph wrote these words with the present king of Israel (Hezekiah) in mind. But ultimately, the Man of God’s right hand can only be Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:1). Therefore, it is reasonable to understand this as an early messianic reference.

Vs. 19 – The prayer for revival, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved” is a repetition of verses 3 and 7. There is, however, a building crescendo in the way the psalmist addresses God:
Verse 3: “O God”
Verse 7 : “O God Almighty”
Verse 19: “O Lord God Almighty”

πŸ’›NUGGET: “Revive us” means, “give us life”. The ultimate fulfillment of our prayers for revival will be when Jesus comes in power and glory to reign.

Like the psalmist, we may or may not see revival in our day. But we should never stop praying towards that end. When it's hard to tell the saints from the sinners... we need a revival, y'all.

πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›
PSALM 81 - “God Gave Them Over”
(Lament Psalm of Asaph)

This song was sung on a feast day of Israel, most likely during the Feast of Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles.

VERSES 1-5: LIFT UP A SONG!
Franz Delitzsch, one of the great German commentators, points out that the summons in verse 1 is to the whole congregation; the summons in verse 2 is to the Levites, who were the appointed temple singers and musicians; and the summons in verse 3 is to the priests who had the specific task of blowing the trumpets.” (Boice)

VERSES 6-16: NO REASON TO SING
In direct contrast to the joyful singing, God shares a message of mournful lament about what might have been if His chosen had not blocked His blessing.

Vs. 6-7 – God speaks of how He delivered Israel from slavery and the “burden from their shoulders” (Exodus 1:11).
The story of Israel is only our own history in another shape. God has heard us, delivered us, liberated us, and too often our unbelief makes the wretched return of mistrust, murmuring, and rebellion.” (Spurgeon)
Vs. 9 – Idolatry is no less Israel's sin than ours. Instead of making God our focus, we are guilty for worshiping the gods of wealth, fame, pleasure and power.

Vs. 10 – “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it”: He wants to supply our every need.

Vs. 11 – God chose Israel to be “His” people and they repaid Him with disobedience. Right from the get-go they began quarreling with Moses because they were thirsty and could find no water in the desert (Exodus 17:7). But their real quarrel was always with God because of their stubborn hearts.

Vs. 12 – As a result of their disobedience God “gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices”. One of the worst ways God can punish us is to leave us alone with our own foolishness. John Trapp wrote that it was as if God had “left them as a ship without a rudder; as a horse without reins, to go whither they would, and do what they would.”

πŸ’›NUGGET: Sin deceives us into thinking that we can get what we want, left to our own devices.

Vs. 13-16 – God's lament over Israel, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me” is echoed centuries later in Jesus' lament for Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37).

“I would have satisfied you...” 

This psalm ends on a sad note of looking back at wasted years and unfulfilled potential. We may have our own wasted years of disobedience that we grieve... but the message of this psalm is that we can look forward with hope. We serve a God who is full of grace and mercy. He is ready to forgive and satisfy us with honey from the rock.

πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›
PSALM 82 – “Judging the Judges”
(Psalm of Asaph)

[Asaph delivers a brief word from God on unjust rulers and judges (companion of Psalm 58).]

VERSE 1: DIVINE ASSEMBLY
God, as the Chief Justice of the Highest Supreme Court, is standing in the midst of the gods or “mighty ones”. The word for “gods” used here is Elohim, plural for the generic word for “god” in Hebrew. These are likely mere mortals in roles of leadership, comparable to our political leaders of today. The assembly would likely be filled with the High Priests and priests, a system God established with Moses and Aaron. Initially, the system of priests functioned well for the people of Israel. But by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the priesthood was being sold to the highest bidder. Corruption seeped through their ranks like a bad stink. Does that smell familiar?

VERSES 2-5: ACCUSATIONS
Vs.2 – “How long will you judge unjustly?” Can you imagine God's frustration? He had given these people the most complete set of laws and ordinance possible – a judgment for every situation including wearing linen and wool mingled together – and they STILL could not judge righteously or defend the weak and oppressed.

Vs. 5 – “Foundations of the earth are shaken”: We can bear personal witness to the fact that when leaders rule unjustly, God's moral order is blown to smithereens.

VERSES 6-7: VERDICT
Vs. 6 – “You are gods... children of the Most High”: After Jesus angered the Jewish religious leaders by declaring Himself as the “Son of God”, He further confounded them by quoting this verse. Jesus used their own scriptures to remind them that God had referred to human beings as "gods" (John 10:34-38).

πŸ’›NUGGET: All of us were created by God for noble life.

Vs. 8 – “For You shall inherit all nations”: Considered to be a Messianic prophecy.
Does not this last verse contain a prophecy of our Lord, the calling of the Gentiles, and the prevalence of Christianity over the earth? Thus several of the fathers have understood the passage. It is only by the universal spread of Christianity over the world, that the reign of righteousness and justice is to be established: and of whom can it be said that he shall inherit all nations, but of Jesus Christ?” (Clarke)

πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›

READING FOR TOMORROW:  Chapters 83-87

LINK TO READING PLAN: 

https://bibleplan.org/plans/psalms-in-a-month/


No comments:

Post a Comment